I have used dust shields on a number of cars (e.g., Porsche 951, BMW X5). If you are not doing spirited braking, such as during autocrossing, I do not believe they will cause wheel damage. However, although dust shields do reduce the amount of dust on the outside of the wheel (i.e., extend the wheel cleaning interval) the dust really builds up on the inside. (Also it's tougher to clean the wheels.) I took mine off and just clean the wheels more often.